European Energy Efficiency Platform launched

On 5 April the JRC presented the interactive and collaborative online European Energy Efficiency Platform. This platform is conceived to fill the gap opened by scattered data and fragmented knowledge resulting from a rapidly growing energy efficiency market. It is expected to be both a one-stop shop for information retrieval and a meeting point for experts to exchange data and reduce redundant activities.

Today's launch is also a call upon the energy efficiency community to contribute to the collective effort of strengthening the knowledge base in this field of growing importance. The JRC provides the web platform as a tool to facilitate knowledge exchange and ensures that the needs of the online community experts are met. The JRC will also strive to ensure that data and information provided are consolidated and validated by peers.

The European Energy Efficiency Platform (E3P) - designed to facilitate knowledge-sharing among policymakers, industry, researchers and administration bodies - aims to better support the conception, implementation and monitoring of energy efficiency polices in Europe. A beta version is currently available to allow stakeholders to provide feedback on the platform. The final version will be publicly accessible in the coming months.

The platform provides three collaborative tools available to the energy efficiency community: a Data Hub, a community-driven data collection hub and a powerful tool to elaborate and visualise datasets; a WikEE for experts' collaboration including sharing of knowledge, data and expertise; and a Community that allows experts to organise themselves into working groups where specific topics can be discussed.

Energy efficiency is one of the five pillars of the European Commission's Energy Union strategy on secure, affordable and climate-friendly energy. It is seen as a contribution to moderating energy demand, reducing energy imports and cutting on pollution. A series of initiatives are being put in place to ensure that EU's energy efficiency is improved by at least 27% by 2030, as a contribution to meeting the ambitious goals of Europe's climate and energy policy.

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